


wait for me to come home

by teasockschocolate



Category: The Greatest Showman (2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Reunions, just some good ole fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 13:12:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14213889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teasockschocolate/pseuds/teasockschocolate
Summary: it's super short but it's been sitting in my draft for weeks so here we go





	wait for me to come home

**Author's Note:**

> it's super short but it's been sitting in my draft for weeks so here we go

Every jolt as the train slows into the station sends another pang of anticipation to Phillip’s stomach.

Due to the circus’ enormous success over the past year, Barnum had decided to expand by bringing the circus on a nationwide tour. Phillip wasn’t exactly sure why, after the whole Jenny Lind fiasco, but when Barnum decides he wants something, he more often than not gets it. The Barnum family had set off a few months ago for a little vacation while Barnum scouted potential spots to bring the circus. He’d decided on the venues, but had sent Phillip to double check everything and settle the financial and contractual agreements with landlords across America. Of course that meant that for the past three weeks Phillip has had to live alone out of trains and motel rooms. He was finally on his way back to New York and was giddy.

The moment the conductor opens the door, Phillip is out of his seat and all but sprinting down the platform. He tears his way from Grand Central to Ninth Avenue and gets on a streetcar to take him to the docks. He should go home before he goes to the circus — drop his bags off, rest, a bath certainly couldn’t hurt, as he was sure he smelled terrible — but he can’t find it in him to care.

It’s nearly ten in the evening so the show is wrapping up. He jolts his knee, silently urging to go faster so he can catch the finale.

He leaps off the streetcar and can hear the deafening cheers and music from the big top tent a block away. A smile broadens his face as he steps inside, careful not to draw attention to himself. His eyes immediately find Charity, Helen, and Caroline and he bends down to them with a whispered “Hello.” The little girls yelp and throw their arms around him, and search his pockets for candy when he stands to greet Charity.

“Phin didn’t say you were coming back today!” Charity says with hushed excitement, kissing his cheek affectionately.

“He doesn’t know.” Phillip grins. “I’m supposed to come back tomorrow.”

“Oh! Everyone will be delighted to see you.” Her eyes hold a knowing glint as his face tilts upwards with an unconscious smile, watching Anne circle the ring on a rope.

None of the performers seemed to have noticed his entrance, least of all Anne who was always engrossed in her act. Of course being thirty feet in the air, she could’t afford to let her mind slip.

When the last chord sounds and the troupe strikes their final poses, the crowd around them is instantly on their feet cheering. Phillip, now a showman by nature, hangs around the edge of the ring while the crowd filters out in order to make a more dramatic entrance.

In a post show high, the troupe mingles in the ring and Phillip steps out into it, clapping. “Good job, everyone.”

He’s instantly greeted with a chorus of exclamations, but his eyes stay trained on a lone figure waiting in the center of the ring, arms bent around a lowered hoop behind her.

He shakes hands and claps backs as he weaves through the crowd. He stops a few feet away from Anne with a crooked smile. “Hi,”

“Hi there,”

Though his brain reminds him he is in public and surrounded by people, his legs practically run to her; he muffles her laughter with a hungry kiss, a small whimper coming from his throat. She melts into him, eagerly wrapping her arms around his neck. As he presses her against him, he has no idea how he spent so much of his life without kissing her and impulsively vows to never stop. After what could have been seconds or hours, a loud clearing of the throat from W.D. jolts them apart with sheepish grins.

“Miss me?” Anne smirks as he tucks her into his side.

“Just a bit.”


End file.
